That Bill Clinton lies -- even about something as important as Social
Security -- is certainly not news.

But that Bill Clinton is willing to throw away one of the Democrat Party's
core constituencies just fourteen months before a visibly weakening Al
Gore goes to the polls ought to give his supporters pause. And yet quite
the opposite seems to be true.

The battleground? A Republican plan to designate every last penny of
the Social Security surplus for -- gasp! -- the Social Security program.
Called the Social Security "Lock Box," this plan has garnered
widespread support for the simple reason that it does what Democrats have
always promised and never delivered: it requires, by law, that your retirement
savings be spent not on crucifixes in urine or midnight basketball but,
of all things, your retirement.

The Lock Box could be called a reform long overdue. But that would be
an understatement bordering on the ludicrous. The Lock Box is nothing
more or less than a first step toward ending legalized theft. Sound like
hyperbole? Ask your pension fund manager what would happen if he spent
your savings the way Congress does. Leavenworth is full of that sort of
folk.

People believe there is a Social Security "Trust Fund," but
that is a lie. From the very inception of the program, Democrat Congresses
and Presidents have freely spent your retirement money on any other program
they dreamed up. It was less of a trust fund than a piggy bank, a giant
cookie jar filled to overflowing with money for social workers and foreign
aid and other sorts of liberal "compassion."

Why won't the Democrats allow you to control how your retirement savings
is invested? Simple: they've spent it all on the "Piss Christ"
and a thousand other things. No wonder the return on Social Security is
so dismal. No wonder they want to raise Medicare premiums too.

But truth has caught up with the Democrats. More and more Americans,
realizing that much of the new government surplus is in fact their retirement
savings, have been shocked to watch as Clinton and Congressional Democrats
propose to use that money for almost a trillion dollars in new spending,
all the while trumpeting their desire to "save" Social Security.
This is clearly a case where everything depends on what your definition
of "save" is, and Americans aren't buying.

So Republicans proposed the Lock Box: simple, to the point, honest. And
the trouble began.

At first, the President endorsed the idea. Everything looked great; reform
had come. But then, Congressional Republicans put the plan to a vote.
And another vote. And another vote.

If Bill Clinton really supported the Lock Box, one call to Tom Daschle
would end the debate. But Clinton can't afford to let Republicans win.
And Daschle can't afford to lose the granddaddy of all cash cows for his
socialist, big government dreams.

All of this just goes to show why government has no business controlling
your retirement savings. It's your money: you should say where it goes.
The overwhelming success of 401(k)s, IRAs, and a host of other modern
retirement devices shows the way. The fact that private retirement systems
in Britain, Australia, and even third-world Chile work better and pay
more than Social Security -- here, in the richest nation on Earth -- tells
the story.

But even if consumer choice paid out less than the current system (and
the most cautious estimates show it would actually pay the average retiree
as much as four or five times more), the fact that government routinely
robs you blind -- and gets away with it -- ought to tell you where your
money should be. You and your banker, broker or mattress can be trusted.
Daschle and Clinton can't.

Call Senator Daschle. Tell him you want your Social Security money locked
away, not wasted by politicians and bureaucrats. His number is (202) 224-2321.
He'll just love to take your call.

But in the end, the lesson is clear. Personal victory is all that's ever
mattered to Clinton, at the expense of family, party, or even country.
Likewise, socialist ideological purity is all that matters to the Gore
and Daschle Democrats. Your money -- your future -- means nothing. Their
actions speak louder than all the words at a Democrat Convention. Seniors
won't forget come next November.

Rod D. Martin is a Little Rock, Arkansas attorney, and a fellow of
the Kuyper Institute for Political Studies. His Congressional exploratory
committee may be found on the web at http://www.theVanguard.org/RMCEC